Dublin, Ireland
Reuters
Irish voters have rejected proposals to replace constitutional references to the makeup of a family and a mother’s “duties in the home” in a significant defeat for the government.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had pitched the vote, held on Friday to coincide with International Women’s Day and counted on Saturday, as a chance to delete some “very old-fashioned, very sexist language about women”.
Signage is seen in relation to a referendum on changes to the Irish constitution called the Family Amendment and the Care Amendment, in Dublin, Ireland, on 3rd March, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File photo
A proposal to expand the definition of family from a relationship founded on marriage to include other durable relationships was rejected by 67.7 per cent to 32.3 per cent.
A second referendum on a proposal to replace language surrounding a woman’s duties in the home with a clause recognising the role of family members in the provision of care was rejected by 73.9 per cent to 26.1 per cent.
Campaigners argued the proposal would enshrine care as a private responsibility, and not a state one.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Saturday, Varadkar said voters had given his government “two wallops”.
“It was our responsibility to convince a majority of people to vote yes, and we clearly failed to do so.”
